The loss of reason

The horrific tragedy which marred Eid celebrations, at least for those directly affected, even if the rest went ahead with festivities – almost oblivious to the pain felt by the families of the at least 149 people who died near Ahmedpur East – was almost entirely manmade. Precisely for this reason, it could have been prevented.

Yes, we now have an enquiry ordered by the prime minister into the overturning of the oil tanker and the events which followed. But such inquiries have occurred before. So too have very similar tragedies, in Jhang, Karachi and other places.

There are several aspects to what took place. The first is why people, who if they had utilised their power of reasoning must have understood that approaching an oil tanker was dangerous and potentially foolhardy, chose to do so anyway. Was it desperation? Was it ignorance? Was it the mentality of the herd which leads so many of us to simply follow what is said or posted on social media or discussed in other places without so much as considering whether it can possibly be true.

This loss of reason, or the ability to think through matters, has serious implications. The people who collected spilled petrol lying ankle-deep close to the oil tanker were warned by police to stay away. They chose not to do so. But was real choice available to them? Was their need to get whatever they could drive them on despite the fear of death? Did they feel their deprivation was so acute that they needed whatever little they could gather in their plastic containers, tins, and even saucepans? The question should make us think about what factors dominate the lives of people and why they seem to function beyond the bounds of what would appear to be common sense.

Linked to this, there are of course other questions. There have been arguments put forward that as a people, we have simply developed blind opportunism or greed, gathering, snatching or collecting whatever we can regardless of any thoughts of morality, ethics or the good of others. This certainly is a point of view worth considering. But do people who live lives where even basic food is not guaranteed have the luxury of being able to keep in mind such thoughts? Perhaps the answer is no. The blindness with which people act is however often terrifying. Surely, even individuals with no education would have figured out that lighting up a cigarette near a huge amount of oil could create an inferno. Did they not stop to think or has human life become so valueless that others are unconcerned about it unless death in some way affects them directly?

Certainly, we have learnt to forget death quickly. On Eid day and the night before it as Eid greetings, electronic cards and messages flashed across cyberspace and hundreds thronged markets to buy all the accessories and goodies required to celebrate the occasion, few thought about the 55 or so persons killed in a terrorist attack in Parachinar two days before, or the others who died in Quetta and in Karachi. One impact of militancy has been to harden us to the loss of life. We take calamity as a part of life. It no longer shocks and it no longer moves us except perhaps for very limited periods of time.

There is good, too, in people. As has been consistently the case when other disasters occur, ordinary people – some at the time using the National Highway – attempted to offer what help they could, carrying screaming people with charred bodies to the nearest hospitals in an area where there are inadequate facilities to treat the critically injured or even those who suffer ordinary sicknesses. After major road accidents or disasters, young people line up to donate blood or give what they can. Their generosity and willingness to help is quite extraordinary. Many do so despite the hardship caused to them.

In the case of the oil tanker disaster, some delayed their return to their own homes for Eid in order to offer any assistance they were able to. But these acts of generosity, these acts of thoughtfulness, do not translate into a wider pattern. They occur only when tragedy has already taken place and there is immediate need. The same is true at the level of government. Investigating why this oil tanker was on the road, if it was in a fit condition, and how the catastrophe took place, seems now somewhat pointless. After all, many other such accidents have claimed lives before, followed by almost identical statements to the ones we here now.

The statements are simply intended to appease and gain political mileage for the particular persons in charge. The compensation handed out, even if it does reach the affected families, can do nothing to prevent further deaths or to reach the root cause for them. Poverty, ignorance, whatever realities in our society cause people to risk their lives in search for a little gain. Is it greed or is it necessity? Perhaps we cannot know for sure. But certainly, the presence of necessity and the temptation to gain whatever is possible from a state or from giant corporations which are seen as holding everything in their hands and giving nothing out to the people is very, very real. The impact of the constant feeling of inequity and unjust distribution on the lives of people needs to be analysed and assessed much better.

Then, of course, there is the other truth. One that has been pointed out over and over again, after every tragedy, every mishap. There are simply not enough hospitals to cater to the needs of people. This was clear in Parachinar where bodies once again lay strewn on the streets. Again, it was local people who attempted to move them to the nearest available place of medical care. There is simply no major facility to cater to the health needs of people south of Peshawar. There is only one hospital bed for every 2,179 people in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; only one doctor for every 7,670 people. In Bahawalpur district, hospitals able to treat burn injuries of the kind seen Sunday are few. On the whole, there is less than one doctor for every 1,226 people.

In other words, even in ordinary times people do not receive what they need from the state. Perhaps this is why they are so willing to take what they can whenever the opportunity arises. Sanctimonious preachers have been appearing on television, calling the attempts to collect oil theft. But is it theft? That oil would have drained away into crevices and ditches and the earth, while perhaps of greater significance is the fact that it is the people who are being stolen from as a result of official policies. They rarely get the opportunity to steal, and perhaps they are simply attempting to seize back what they believe should belong to them.

There are many philosophical and ethical factors to consider. But these are of relatively low significance given the need to look at the ground realities. We need to keep at the first position in our minds the need to ensure human safety, to give people what they need and by doing so make them a little less vulnerable to calamity – in whatever form it comes.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com